Art Portfolio: Icebreaker - 3D portrait sketches

Today, I am publishing the first ideas for the icebreaker task. 

The tutor introduced the main points of this warm-up exercise. It must be done three dimensional in surface whatever we want. To do not complicate each piece (as I always do) and concerned with the limited time, I focused on the expression. In the picture below, I sketched a few shots of how I imagine this portrait. During the process, I will be wholly in favour of the XIX century movement (which I determine in this post).

It will be a self-portrait made with air-drying clay. Because I like to work on this material, I found it as a perfect fulfilment for my sketches. 

I wanted to show something weak. The inner feelings of anxiety, which remarkably captured by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.

Assuming from artist's dairy from 1892;

''One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.''

This piece has been made due to the fascination with nature. And the reason why he placed the screaming man was to personalization his feelings. 

The differences

But the interesting fact is that Munch did not intend to illustrate the sunset view. The times when he has been creating were definitely lead by impressionists. As a reminder, canvases then were full of pastel colours and an appreciation for nature. Meanwhile, a Norwegian painter decided to play my own imagination. He created four pieces of this scene. Two painted versions are available to see in National Gallery in Oslo. The pastel version from 1893 held in The Munch Museum, the later one has been sold in 2012. It can be noticed, that this motif had a significant value for him. Which not bother, till these days is an inspiration for contemporary artists. Referring again to the late XIX century, his attempt can be defined as a mile step contrary to his south colleagues.

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893

It is widely known, that war had a major influence on the modern history of art. The origin of the abstraction had taken inspiration from those restless times. For instance, early Picasso paintings which as well as Much's, were full of dark and blue tones. 

Oskar Kokoschka, Self Portrait, 1913

The example of an expressionist's portrait has captured by Oskar Kokoschka. This young Austrian artist has been exposed by strong influence in Berlin. There he learnt how to exemplify mediums and the importance of primary colours. Europe then was already feeling the tensions of the diplomatic clashes that would soon lead to war. Therefore, the storm of rebellious young souls interferes with a social environment by displaying new movement. 

Therefore, this unnatural long head and hovering hand gave me an initial contribution to the overall figure of the sculpture. According to the thickly painted Kokoschka's symbol of alienation of the undoubtfully non-optimistic era, I found inspiration to finish my sketch.

To sum up, I have taken the facial expression from Munch's Scream. All those factors consist of spirit and personal reflection are closed in drying clay.

References:

STANSKA, Z. et al. (2021) Mysterious Road from Edvard Munch's The Scream | DailyArt Magazine. [Online] Available from: https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/the-mysterious-road-of-the-scream-by-edvard-munch/ [Accessed 7/4/2021]

MoMA,. Oskar Kokoschka. Self-Portrait. 1913.. [Online] Available from: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/oskar-kokoschka-self-portrait-1913/ [Accessed 7/4/2021]

KOKOSCHKA, O. Self Portrait. [Oil on canvas] In: (1913) MoMA Gallery Collection.

MUNCH, E. The Scream. [Oil, tempera and pastel on cardboard] In: (1893)Oslo: National Gallery in Oslo.